


The Off Colors

by futuresteven (orphan_account)



Series: a diamond in the rough [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Connie is a hybrid, F/M, Gem Fusion, Momswap AU, Steven Universe is Pink Diamond, Steven Universe is a Diamond, The off colors - Freeform, connverse - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25096957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/futuresteven
Summary: Steven meets the Off Colors and learns more about fusion with the help of Connie.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Series: a diamond in the rough [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808644
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	The Off Colors

As soon as they passed Homeworld, everyone knew that something wasn't right.

There were far more Gems out than usual. Steven stared out of the window, his gaze clouding over when he thought about what could possibly be happening. 

Everyone besides him, Pip, U-1, and Connie were trying to explain everything about Gemkind to Jeff. The Crystal Gems taught him some things, but he was still lacking knowledge of things such as who the Diamonds were. Fortunately, he was getting a good grasp on the concept.

“Steven,” Connie started, standing next to him and pulling him out of his daze. “What’s happening? Did the Diamonds realize that you left Homeworld?”

He hummed and put a finger to his chin, clearly considering the possibility. Then, he shook his head and looked back out at the planet. “Last time I was caught there weren’t a lot of Gems here. The Diamonds sent them out to look all across the universe. Besides, many of these Gems weren’t created for search parties.”

“Well… what else could it be?”

The Diamond took a seat against the wall of the ship, “Pip, feel free to pull in using my personal entrance.”

“Yes, my diamond.” She nodded.

Connie slid down next to him, trying to think of any other possible explanations there could be. Her ‘ally’ had made a good point. Many Gems, such as Jades, would never be used for a mission involving a search party. It was far too bizarre.

“Is that Homeworld?” U-1 asked, pointing out of the window and turning to the hybrids. 

“Yeah!” Connie nodded. “Have you ever been here?”

“Nope. But my girlfriend was from here!” He frowned. “Unfortunately, I‘ve only ever heard bad stories about this place.” No one was surprised by this admission.

Jeff looked amazed. “Your girlfriend was from here?”

“She was!”

“That’s so cool…! Why did she go after a human, though?”

“There’s no love here,” He sighed. “Look, I don’t know much about this place!”

Suddenly, Steven jumped up and rushed to be at Pip’s side. “Pip, hurry up! We  _ need  _ them to get back to Earth as soon as possible!”

Obviously startled by the pink haired boy’s shouting, Lapis went up to them and squinted out of the window. “Wait, why?”

“They found out that you guys escaped, not me!” He growled under his breath. “This is  _ exactly  _ why I never trust Amethysts to guard me!”

Peridot began to fidget. “How are we supposed to  _ go back to Earth as soon as we return?!”  _ The poor gem was clearly under lots of stress.

“We’ll have to find something out,” Connie replied, putting a hand on Peridot’s shoulder with a reassuring smile. “We’re going to be okay!”

Pip landed the ship in Steven’s private ship hangar. It was much larger and fancier, although it was rarely ever used. 

How do we possibly get around this place without getting caught?” Jasper finally asked, crossing her arms. “I think people would notice a Diamond, the Diamond’s Pearl, and three humans.”

“The Kindergarten,” Steven mumbled under his breath. Pip had never grabbed his shoulder so quickly.

“Absolutely not! Diamonds shouldn’t be around such a dirty place,” She frowned. “The Zoo was enough of an adventure for you to last a lifetime…”

He frowned. “I made a promise that said I’ll help them leave. If going through the Kindergarten is what gets them out, then I’ll have to do it. Even if I don’t want to…”

“What if you’re caught?!”

“I won’t be! You know that.”

Pip hesitated before letting out a sigh of defeat. “Fine. To the Kindergarten we go.”

•┈┈┈••✦♥✦••┈┈┈•

If the planet being cracked in half wasn’t enough evidence that the Gems soaked every single resource out of the ground, then the Kindergarten would be a perfect example to further prove it.

It was dark, dirty, dusty, and dangerous. One wrong step and you could go plummeting down to your death.

“What  _ is  _ this place?” U-1 sounded amazed, although the way his voice went high proved that he was scared. 

Jasper hummed. “It’s some sort of Kindergarten. I’ve never seen one this big before, though. Yet again, Earth was never fully colonized.”

“Congratulations. We get to see a glimpse of what Earth would be like if the colony was complete,” Lapis mumbled sarcastically. “Who’s Kindergarten is this, anyways?”

Steven, who was walking ahead of them by quite a few feet, looked around. “This is definitely one of White’s Kindergartens. She always likes to go above and beyond when it comes to this stuff.”

“How come there aren’t many of White’s Gems on Homeworld, then?” Connie was, in all honesty, scared. She’s been to Earth’s Kindergartens, but this one was much larger and much deeper. It was almost haunting that the holes were perfectly lined up with each other.

“White has many colonies and likes to keep on expanding that number. Many of her Gems are likely sent out to colonize another planet from the very moment they’re done forming.” Pip’s tone was somber.

“Speaking of which… how were the Diamonds created?” U-1 asked. “Only if you feel comfortable answering, of course.”

Jeff nodded. “I’ve been wondering that as well.”

“Well… we aren’t exactly sure,” Pip admitted. “We’ve tried to find out, but we only know where Pink’s from. She was made from a comet possibly made by White, I know that. But I’m not too sure about the others.”

Peridot raised a brow. “Isn’t Pink Diamond Off Colored?”

“What?” Steven whipped around, forcing the others to stop. “My mother **_wasn’t_** an _Off Color._ Whoever gave you that kind of idea deserves to be shattered five times over!”

“Sorry,” The green Gem squeaked. The Diamond rolled his eyes and went back to Pip’s side again, motioning them to continue walking.

“Pink was created specially… she wasn’t an Off Color. She was  _ made _ to be like that.” Pip looked away and bowed her head. “I’m not allowed to speak of this.”

U-1 perked up. “Are you talking about Pink Diamond?”

“You know who she is?” Jasper was surprised.

“I guess you could say that,” He said with a chuckle. Connie took note of the way his cheeks flushed and got suspicious. She would need to question him later on.

Before anyone could reply, they turned into a darker tunnel. Lapis hesitated, “Does anyone here have a source of light?”

No one replied.

“Steven-” Pip started.

“Fine.”

The Diamond paused and closed his eyes. Much to Connie’s amazement, his gem lit up before emitting it’s glow onto the rest of his body. He was glowing pink somehow. 

She glanced down at herself. Could all Gems do that?

Peridot seemed just as curious about it as she did. “How could you possibly do that…? It doesn’t make sense!”

“That’s how I feel about everything here, but I’m adjusting to it.” Jeff shoved his hands in his pockets. Steven began to lead the way again.

They were about to turn into another tunnel when, suddenly, a noise could be heard. Everyone stopped walking as soon as they realized this.

“Who’s there?” Connie asked. “We won’t hurt you!”

For a moment, nothing happened. The group glanced amongst each other, wondering if they were going crazy from being in the dark for too long. Soon enough, though, another Pearl could be seen standing in the tunnel.

“Trespassers!” She froze as soon as she saw Steven.

The boy only glowed even more and took a step back. Pip set a hand on his shoulder before realizing the stranger was there. She straightened her posture.

Something about Pearls was that they were all somehow very close to each other. Steven could vaguely remember the times when Pip spoke to other Pearls who were dragged into the palace. Even though he was a young attention-seeker, the slender Gems never minded. Sometimes they would even play with him up until their owners came back to retrieve them.

“He’s not here to hurt you,” Pip reassured, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly before letting go of him and walking to the other. “We’re actually here for the opposite reason… these people need to go back to Earth.” She gestured to them.

Hesitantly, the other Pearl walked closer to her. From a distance, they realized that she was an Aubergine Pearl. “Are those organics…?”

“And the Crystal Gems.”

Aubergine’s eyes widened and a fearful expression came over her features. “The Crystal Gems…? Where’s Blue Mist Chalcedony?”

Connie sighed, “It’s a long story…”

“None of us will hurt you,” the pink Gem reassured. “We don’t want to even capture you. We’re just wondering if you know a way to get to the ship hangar through these tunnels is all.”

She thought for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t, but I know someone who might…”

“May we speak to her?” Peridot sounded surprisingly hopeful. 

The Pearl faltered again. “You promise to not hurt any of us?”

“We promise.” Pip nodded.

“Follow me.”

The tunnel she led them through got wider and wider the further down they went. Steven glanced around with newfound curiosity. White Diamond also forbade him from going to the Kindergarten for whatever reasons there may be. He never cared much for it until today.

Jeff bit his lip nervously. “Where are you taking us?”

“Somewhere long forgotten. People who don’t belong here all belong there,” Aubergine responded. “None of us will hurt you, either. I’m sorry for not telling you that, sister.”

“Sister?” Steven perked up, seemingly amazed.

Pip chuckled. “You haven’t realized that all Pearls call each other sisters…? We were all made at the same location.”

The group entered another tunnel that led to a room inside of a pillar.

“I’m back!” Aubergine called out, “It’s okay, these Gems won’t hurt us…!”

An unfamiliar Gem emerged from one of the holes inside of the pillar with wide eyes, “Woah, are those new Gems?” 

Steven glanced over her appearance and tried to recognize what kind of Gem she was. Needless to say, he failed. She had curly hair that was light blue on one side and hot pink on the other. Her clothing was colorful and far from professional. The oddest thing about her, however, were her three eyes. One was a medium ruby-red, the other a medium sapphire-blue, and the last a reddish-violet.

“Hi, I’m Connie!” The hybrid approached her and smiled. She backed up, clearly confused by this.

Aubergine’s expression softened. “Don’t worry, Garnet. She’s friendly!”

From behind them, another voice spoke, “I predict that Aubergine Pearl is just happy to see another Pearl for so long.”

This Gem was obviously a Sapphire. She had periwinkle skin and curly, shoulder-length light-cyan hair. Her gemstone was located on her chest. However, the odd thing about her was that she was  _ smiling.  _ Most Sapphires that Steven’s seen had blank faces.

_ “Sapph!”  _ Aubergine laughed. Another Gem approached them.

She’s short and rounded. Her eyes were black and cartoonish while her magenta hair was styled into a pair of messy, heart-shaped buns. Due to the heart shape the Gem on her chest was in, he could only guess she was a Spinel. An oddly familiar one, at that.

“New friends to play with?!” She loudly gasped, circling around them at a speed that seemed impossible to go at. “Wowie, it’s been so long since we’ve made new friends!”

A Lapis Lazuli with light blue skin and medium-blue hair that was styled in a short, curly bob with flat bangs arrived. Next to her, was  _ another  _ Lapis, this one with azure skin and short, dark blue hair that was tied into a ponytail. Her golden freckles stood out on her cheeks.

“Do you really think we can trust them?” asked the first one. The second one was only looking at them with a cautious expression.

There was a bright flash of light. Aubergine and Sapph were no longer there, which confused Steven and U-1. The new Gem that seemingly just arrived was tall and lean. Her skin was light grayish violet. Her wavy hair was a slightly desaturated blue and went down past her shoulders. However, there was a messy bun sitting on top of her head. Her bangs covered her eyes and kind of fell over her pointed nose as well.

Admittedly, Steven loved her outfit. She wore a dark, cyan blue dress that went down to the top of her thighs. The sleeves were ruffled and matched nicely with her short blue gloves. Her black boots went past her knees. Oddest of all were that she had  _ two  _ Gems.

“Tanzanite, you’re back already!” called out another Gem. She was short to the point where she would be called defective. Her skin was bright scarlet and her darkish-maroon hair was long. Both of these brought out her peachy-orange eyes and the orange Gem on her shoulder.

‘Tanzanite’ smiled. “Oh, Carnelian…”

That was when another obviously defective Gem entered the scene. She had a Jasper gem on her navel, but she was lean and thin. Her skin was moderately light orange and she had dark scarlet markings that brought out her yellow eyes. She has short, messy light orange hair to finish off the look.

“Let’s show her how much better we can be,” She joked.

Another bright flash of light. This time, the result was a Gem with four peach eyes, bright orange skin, and maroon markings. Her hair was tied into a ponytail and was a light maroon. Even odder than her four eyes was the fact that she had four arms as well and, again, had two Gems.

Spinel gasped. “Sard!”

Finally, another person with two Gems walked out of the shadows. She had dark gray skin and lighter gray hair that was partially tied into a ponytail in the back. Her upper pair of eyes were light gray while her lower pair were dark gray. One of her gemstones took the place of her nose while the other was on her chest.

“Flint and Chert didn’t even say hi to the new people before they fused into Mozarkite?” the Lapis with freckles teased, resulting in ‘Mozarkite’ laughing. 

Steven had enough. “What just  _ happened?!” _

“Fusion!” Connie replied as if it were an obvious thing. She turned to the others with a smile. “I’m Connie and this is Steven, Pip, Jeff, U-1, Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper! It’s nice to meet you!”

The pink haired boy quirked a brow. “What’s  _ fusion?” _

“I’ll explain later,” Pip said, ruffling his hair and laughing at the way he glared at her. “What? It’s already messy!”

Before anything else could happen, Sard stepped up to Tanzanite and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. Steven only grew more confused when he saw that she, too, had three eyes. However, they were all in a straight line and seemed to intersect with each other on the farthest right or left side. It almost looked like three cyclops eyes were placed in a row.

Mozarkite got closer to them as well and the brightest flash of light yet shined out. This time it took longer for it to fade away.

Once it did, everyone was amazed.

The new Gem was  _ extremely  _ tall. She had soft pink skin. Her slightly-desaturated, wavy, pink hair went down to her waist. However, the first part of her hair was put up in space buns. She had  _ seven  _ eyes. The one on the top was much like a Sapphire’s and was brown. The first actual  _ set  _ of eyes were pink on the left and dark-purplish red on the right. The second set was golden orange on the left and bronze on the right. Finally, the third set was light-reddish brown on the left and bright reddish-purple on the right. She had four arms, the upper half belonging to the mixture of the more muscular Gems and the lower half belonging to the mixture of the more lean Gems.

All of her component’s Gems were in the same places that they were originally in. However, their Gems are much more colorful when they’re like this.

Startled by her sudden appearance, Steven took a few steps back and ran into an obviously-amazed Pip. 

One of the Lapises, the one without freckles, motioned to them. “Meet Mystic Quartz, the result of _six_ _people_ falling in love.”

Jeff was amazed. “Woah, I never knew that many Gems could fuse…”

“Neither did I,” Pip admitted sheepishly.

“Pip-“” Steven started. The Pearl turned to him and nodded.

“I’ll try my hardest to explain to you, my Diamond…” She was cut off by Garnet gasping.

“Your…  _ Diamond?” _

“No way that organic is a Diamond,” The Lapis with freckles said, her eyebrows furrowing. “He better not be, Aubergine said these strange Gems were safe to be around…”

Pip sighed and held his shirt up, revealing his Gem. Everyone gasped, staring at the pink gemstone with wide eyes as Steven struggled to get out of her hold.

“It’s a long story but… this is Pink Diamond’s replacement. Her son.”

Most surprised of all was U-1. _ “What?!” _

“U-1?” Connie was surprised by his outburst.

“This is Pink Diamond’s  _ son?” _

The Pearl frowned. “It’s a long story, but-”

“I’m the one called ‘Greg Universe’!”

Her eyes widened and she was taken aback.

‘Greg’ looked over him, “Is this my…”

“Let’s talk about this elsewhere,” Pip replied, glancing at the others. “We’re going to discuss things in that tunnel.” She pointed to it. Lapis without freckles nodded and they walked away.

Lapis smiled at the other Lapises. “It’s so weird seeing other Lapises after so long!”

“I’m Freckles and this is Curly… if we all went by Lapis it would be confusing!” She laughed. Curly nodded, looking over the other with a confused expression.

“Where are you from?”

“Earth…”

As they continued their conversation, Connie pulled Steven aside. “You don’t know what fusion is?”

“Fusion… no,” He sighed. “I keep hearing people talk about it today but I've never even heard the word before.”

She frowned sympathetically at him. How many other things was he not aware of? What else was hidden from him by the Diamonds? Millions of questions raced in her mind, but she forced her thoughts to clear for the time being.

“Fusions are made when two or more Gems come together to form one being! Basically, it’s when they’re so emotionally harmonious with each other that they can become their own separate being when mixed together.”

Steven only seemed to get even more confused. “So… fusion kills you? It takes your soul and mixes it in with other souls and then becomes one person?”

“What? No! Not at all,” She shook her head. “Think of it as… well…” Her voice drifted off as she tried to think of an easier explanation. “Okay, a fusion is the embodiment of a relationship that two or more Gems have with one another. For example, when Jasper and Lapis fused into Malachite for the first time it was a very unstable fusion because they didn’t get along for a while. However, Malachite is more stable now because her components started to get along. 

When Lapis and Peridot fuse into Turquoise, their fusion embodies the platonic love they have for each other. When Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper all dude together, it’s Bloodstone who embodies their friendship and teamwork. Fuse Jasper and Peridot into Tiger’s Eye and you’ll get the embodiment of familial love.”

He nodded slowly, signalling that he was beginning to understand. “Why does… ‘Mystic Quartz’ have so many eyes and arms?”

“She’s a fusion of  _ six _ Gems. You won’t see many Gems who can fuse with that many people at once,” The brunette was still amazed, honestly. “Most fusions have extra limbs or eyes. I’d say all fusions do, actually…”

“All of our fusions do.”

They turned around with wide eyes. Mystic sat down. “There’s no need to be scared to ask us questions. We won’t be offended by them. I mean, we were in the same place you were in until not too long ago… cross-Gem fusion isn’t something that many Gems know about.”

“Cross-Gem fusion? Oh! Like when different types of Gems fuse together?” Connie questioned. Mystic nodded.

Steven frowned. “I’m still so confused… you’re the embodiment of a relationship…? Somehow?”

The large Gem thought for a moment before humming and nodding slowly. “Pretty much. That’s an odd way to explain it, but it  _ does  _ work…”

“Fusion is just coming together and making someone new!” Garnet chimed in, taking a seat next to Mystic with a small smile. “It’s weird but feels oddly right.”

“So when you ‘come together’ do you make someone new or are the other people that made you still there?”

“Kind of a mix of both,” the colorful fusion admitted. “It’s like you’re someone else, but you can still hear and feel what your components are feeling.”

Mystic leaned down to get a closer look at Steven. “It’s unfortunate that the Diamonds don’t even let other Diamonds know what fusion is…”

“I’m used to it.” The pink paired boy shrugged, stepping a little closer to Connie.

Squeaks could be heard as Spinel ran to them. “Did you guys come here to play with us?!” She had a wide smile.

The brunette shook her head. “No, I’m sorry… actually, Aubergine mentioned that she knows someone here that can tell us how to get to the ship hangar through the tunnels…?”

“And why should we help a bunch of organics, an organic who’s apparently a  _ Diamond,  _ and a bunch of Gems who claimed to have worked for the leader of a horrible rebellion?” Curly asked. Freckles and Lapis glanced at each other.

Jasper, Peridot, and Jeff got closer to them.

Connie let out a sigh. “We just need to get back to Earth… the rebellion may have gone too far, but Earth is a planet where you can make any decisions that you want to make. Besides, Blue Mist Chalcedony is gone now… I have her Gem.”

_ “What?”  _ Garnet backed away.

She turned around and pushed her hair up, revealing the Gem between her shoulder blades. Admittedly, she had forgotten that she, Steven, and Jeff were still wearing the Zoo outfits up until that point.

“She isn’t Blue Mist Chalcedony,” Jasper said, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking up at the others. “She’s Connie, the daughter of Blue Mist Chalcedony. It’s confusing but… she’s not anyone except herself.”

“And Steven may have a Diamond’s Gem, but he’s  _ helping us.  _ He’s not like the other Diamonds. These clothes we’re wearing are from the  _ Human Zoo.  _ He didn’t have to go there and help save Jeff, but he did,” Connie turned back around to look at their shocked faces.

“How can we know if we can trust you?” Freckles asked.

Peridot cleared her throat, gaining everyone’s attention. “We’ll take you to Earth if you help us. Earth is a place where you can be yourself without needing to hide your whole life!”

_ “What?!”  _ Lapis was in shock. “How big of a ship must we need?”

Spinel seemed serious for the first time so far. “I think an Emerald’s ship is still in the hangar! We should be able to steal it if we get there on time.”

Curly narrowed her eyes, “This isn’t going to-”

“Let’s do it,” Mystic interrupted.

The Lapis’ eyes widened and Mystic sent her a reassuring nod, “It’s worth a chance. If going to another planet gives us freedom, then we’ll do it.”

“But the Diamond-”

“That hybrid is right… he isn’t like the others. Besides, that’s  _ Pink Diamond’s  _ gem… she’s always been different compared to the other Diamonds,” Freckles pointed out.

“Pink Diamond always had a soft spot for Off Colored Gems,” Pip informed them as she and ‘Greg’ finally got out of the tunnel. Steven was confused by their expressions. The human looked like he had just cried while his Pearl looked like she was holding back her tears.

Garnet nodded. “Okay, Spinel. Lead the way.”

The fuchsia Gem beamed at them.

•┈┈┈••✦♥✦••┈┈┈•

Darkness surrounded the group. Never had they expected the tunnels to be this wide, though. Besides Mystic needing to bend her head down a little, everyone could fit perfectly.

Even when so many things were happening, Steven could only focus on the concept of fusion. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that fusion  _ was  _ something he had seen before. However, he never heard of it being used outside of combat.

When he was younger, he got curious about what colonies were like. Yellow brought him to one, admitting that it was good for him to learn about them before he even had one. She was always someone who wanted him to “get ahead” of other people.

While he was exploring outside, he came across a group of Rubies. They were practicing fusion according to their Morganite. The small Gems all stacked up on each other and fused into an even larger Ruby.

Excited, he had run back to Yellow to ask her if he could fuse as well. She explained that only people with the same type of Gems could fuse and when they did it was only so they could have better chances at winning a fight. She described it as the ‘back-up weapon,’ something that happened when the Rubies were getting weak.

His eyes filled with wonder when he realized that she was  _ wrong. _ He would have never expected a group of ‘Defects’ to prove a  _ Diamond  _ wrong. However, they  _ did. _ There was Garnet, and Mystic, and by extension Sard, Tanzanite, and Mozarkite as well. All of them were fusions made up of different kinds of Gems. Together, they made something  _ unique. _

Connie was walking next to him, as per usual. It almost felt like they were becoming close. They would talk to each other very often, to the point where some people on Earth may even consider them to be ‘friends.’ The word still made Steven’s eyes roll, but she always used it like some formal, special title.

Curiosity killed the cat. In this scenario, Steven was the cat. He turned to his ‘friend’ and tilted his head to the side. “Do you think I could fuse?”

She hummed. “I’m able to fuse with both Gems  _ and  _ humans, so I’m just guessing that it would be the same for you.”

“Gems can fuse with humans too?”

“Only hybrids who are half human,” The brunette chuckled. “The first person who I’ve ever fused with was Jeff! Actually, we still fuse into Jonnie often!”

Steven glanced back at Jeff. He was talking to Jasper, Garnet, Greg, and Peridot about  _ something.  _ The two of them hadn’t spoken much, mostly because a Diamond had absolutely no business speaking to a human of all things. Even if he was helping a group of rebels that didn’t mean he was going to lower his standards.

“How do you fuse?”

His question took Connie by surprise. She glanced over his expression and tried to find any hint of joking, but she couldn’t find any.

“Most Gems need to do a dance that will harmonize them. However for some gems, like Mystic’s components, all they had to do was touch each other. It really just depends on how close you are, I guess!”

Slowly, he nodded. He would need to try to fuse with someone eventually. For a moment he considered asking Connie, but he quickly decided against it. He was already doing far too many risky things in one day.

Spinel’s voice pulled him out of his train of thought. 

“We’re almost there!”

•┈┈┈••✦♥✦••┈┈┈•

“How do we sneak over there?”

All of them could see a small opening of light that led to the ship hangar. Now they only had to come up with a plan that would help them succeed.

Mystic frowned, “I’m sure if we all go through and pretend to be normal Gems that we could pass by them. Garnet and I would have to unfuse, though…”

The other fusion looked nervous at these words.

“Maybe Steven could make everyone let us through?” Freckles’ suggestion made Pip shake her head frantically.

“No! We don’t know what would happen if the Diamonds found out…”

Steven shivered. That was a possibility that he didn’t want to experience.

Connie hummed, “Sapphires are high-ranking Gems, right? Maybe we can do what we did at the Zoo. But I would hate to make anyone unfuse…”

“If we did what we did at the Zoo again, we have a higher chance of being caught,” Peridot pointed out. “We would need a new strategy that no one would expect from us.”

“What if we just run onto the ship? From there we can just find out how to turn the thing on!” Greg shrugged. When everyone looked at him like he was crazy, he frowned. “What? It would make sense-!”

“That’s ridiculous,” Curly shook her head.

The Diamond walked forward, “Just follow me.”

And so, everyone followed him hesitantly. He stepped out of the tunnel and faltered when he saw the amount of Gems who were there. 

Never had he seen so many Quartzes in one place before. Mystic was fast to unfuse so they could blend in more. Garnet, however, decided to take the risk.

“Where’s the ship?” He mumbled to Spinel, who quickly pointed at the large spacecraft. It would fit everyone, that’s for sure.

Just as they were about to enter the ship, they were stopped by another Jasper. “You’re not allowed to borrow this shi- my diamond!” She saluted.

Steven internally rolled his eyes. “I can ‘borrow’ whatever ship I would like to borrow,  _ Jasper.” _

“Yes, my diamond! You can!”

He pressed the hand pad and opened it. The Off Colors were the firsts to run onto the ship, followed by Jeff and Greg.

Suddenly, he was pushed back. He let out a startled yell and looked at whoever pushed him, hoping to make them realize they just pushed a  _ Diamond. _

He froze.

“Pink Diamond, White Diamond has requested for your presence.” White Pearl clearly wasn’t…  _ well, herself.  _ His eyes widened.  _ She told him she would stop mind controlling innocent Gems! _

“No! No, not right now. I’m busy.” He pretended that she was just doing her job, that she wasn’t being controlled. When she tried to bubble him, he leapt out of the bubble.

Quartzes were trying to board the ship, clearly having learnt that those ‘defects’ and ‘organics’ weren’t supposed to be there. His eyes widened.

“No, leave them alone!” Connie cried out, only to be grabbed by a Rose Quartz. She covered her hand over her mouth.

“Pink Diamond-” The Pearl began, only to be pushed aside by Steven again. He began to sprint to the hand pad, hoping to close it and send them off before he was caught.

The Crystal Gems were being held back by Quartzes who were trying to fight them.  _ No, they were supposed to go onto the ship too and escape this planet- _

Looking to the side revealed that Pip had been grabbed by an Amethyst. He remembered that the Quartzes weren’t  _ allowed  _ to arrest him. The most they could do was watch White Pearl try to capture him.

He barely made it to the hand pad. When he did, though, he turned around to tell the Crystal Gems to hurry.

“STEVEN, LET THEM GO! We can just go back to Earth later!”

Connie’s words threw him off balance. The other Crystal Gems stared at him, silently telling him that it had to be done. 

“Pink!” White Pearl was beginning to sound angry. She grabbed him and began to bubble him again.

The last thing the Diamond did was quickly press the hand pad again and press the “take off” button on it. Before the bubble finally closed, he was able to see the ship’s door close and begin to fly away.

White Pearl’s grip on him only tightened.

He fainted within mere seconds.

**Author's Note:**

> Soon, I plan on writing Pip and Greg’s conversation! However, that will likely be a side oneshot... my next story in this is going to be big!
> 
> What characters do you want to see? Leave them in the comments below!


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